The Return of COVID Mandates? Here’s What We Know

Amid the rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations and warnings of a new “highly mutated” variant, BA.2.86, many people are wondering whether the mitigation tactics of 2020 might enter the chat once again.

Yes, we’re talking masking, required vaccination, social distancing, isolation, contact tracing and incessant hand washing. While all of those measures were suggested — or mandated — at various moments, some became the immediate flashpoints of highly politicized debates. 

More than three years later, most COVID mandates have all but disappeared, but recently some organizations seem to be reinstating the previous measures many opposed. Here’s what’s really starting to make a comeback.

COVID mask mandates are back, sort of

Over the last two weeks, a smattering of businesses, schools and healthcare entities have reinstated masking policies. Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia; Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa, California, film company Lionsgate’s Santa Monica offices, and a handful of healthcare organizations in New York now require their staff and visitors to mask up when on site.

Rumors that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was on the verge of bringing back masking policies have recently made their rounds on social media as well. However, claims that TSA had briefed some of its managers on an impending mask requirement have since been put to rest, according to a TSA spokesperson who denied the rumors to the Associated Press.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has also come out to address the rumors that widespread masking mandates are set to return, telling NBC News that there are currently no plans to reinstate masking policies.

The CDC does, however, continue to recommend that people who are more vulnerable to serious COVID infections, and those who care for that population, consider wearing a mask in public places.

COVID vaccine requirements are dwindling

COVID vaccine mandates have largely declined over the last year. After the vaccines initially rolled out in late 2020, several hospitals, colleges and businesses across the country required their employees to be fully vaccinated. 

In November of 2021, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that any healthcare facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding must require that their staff be fully vaccinated. However, shortly after the Biden administration ended the Public Health Emergency in May of this year, HHS and CMS withdrew the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.

There are still colleges that require students and staff to be vaccinated, but that number has decreased dramatically. 

According to No College Mandates — a group of thousands of college stakeholders and healthcare workers who monitor COVID mandates at colleges and universities daily — at one time, more than 800 schools required students and staff to be fully vaccinated in order to attend in-person classes. However, as of August 26, that number had decreased to around 88.

And even for the colleges that do require COVID shots, the specifics of the conditions pertaining to the vaccines vary. For example, at the California College of Arts (CCA) in San Francisco, students are required to be up-to-date with their COVID vaccines, including having had at least one booster, by August 1 before beginning the fall semester. However, CCA does not require proof of other immunizations, such as those that protect against measles and meningitis.

Other schools require only their staff or those who are living on campus to be vaccinated against COVID. But for the most part, these mandates are much less common now than they were two years ago.

Are more mandates coming?

In terms of widespread masking and lockdowns, many experts have suggested that those days are behind us. 

“That ship has sailed,” Celine Gounder, M.D., editor-at-large for public health at KFF and a medical contributor for CBS, said when asked about the possibility of more lockdowns during a recent interview with CBS Mornings. “It sailed years ago.” 

Updated COVID boosters are still awaiting the Food and Drug Administration’s approval, as is guidance regarding who should get them. 

At this time, the CDC has only reiterated the importance of practicing tactics that have become standard to the virus, like frequent handwashing, getting tested when symptomatic and isolating when sick — but have not yet sounded the alarm on the need for mandates.